Tax expensive homes more, European Commission tells UK June 3, 2014 George Osborne’s been urged to up council taxes on higher value properties today – by the European Commission. The commission’s said that, in order to keep house prices under control, the UK also needs to build more houses and trim the Help to Buy 2 scheme – where the government advances 15 per cent of [...]
What you need to know before the US open June 3, 2014 A lower open is expected for European markets this morning, as investors look towards inflation and unemployment numbers for the Eurozone. The prospect of new intervention from the European Central Bank, expected to be announced at its policy meeting this week, has been buoying market confidence. Asian counterparts moved higher in trading today, on the [...]
Foxtons CEO Michael Brown steps down after 12 years June 3, 2014 The chief executive of London-focused property agent Foxtons, has decided to step down for personal reasons. Michael Brown will be succeeded by the current COO Nic Budden. However, Brown has accepted the board's request that he become a non-executive director of the company, which he has agreed to do. The new changes will take effect [...]
Average UK house price hits record high as Help to Buy fails to take off in London June 3, 2014 UK house prices rose by 11.1 per cent annually last month, according to the latest figures from Nationwide. That takes the cost of an average UK home to £186,512 – overtaking the previous peak reached in pre-crisis October 2007 for the first time. In April, the average cost was £183,577. The building society’s house prices [...]
Exchange rate movements hit Wolseley trading profit June 3, 2014 Wolseley, the world's largest plumbing and supplies group, has seen a slight rise in trading profit for ongoing businesses of 0.6 per cent to £155m, in the third quarter. However, exchange rate movements were unfavourable to the company hitting trading profit by £12m. Strong growth in the Nordics and the USA managed to to head off more [...]
Asian markets buoyant on Chinese PMI data June 3, 2014 Asian markets are up for the second day after data showed the Chinese services sector grew at its fastest pace in six months in May. The official non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose from April's 54.8 to 55.5 in May, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. New orders reached an eight-month high of 52.7, up [...]
UK to goldplate new forex rules June 2, 2014 CURRENCY traders in the City face extra strong rules governing how they behave, as part of a British crackdown that is expected to go above and beyond international efforts. George Osborne is thought to want to be particularly tough on foreign exchange traders in the wake of manipulation investigations into forex and Libor benchmarks. Global [...]
Scots to get tax controls if they vote no to split June 2, 2014 THE CONSERVATIVES yesterday vowed to hand more tax powers to the Scottish government if it rejects a split from the UK, as David Cameron warned that an independent Scotland would have to join the back of the queue for EU membership. The Prime Minister and chancellor George Osborne are both said to have thrown their support [...]
Red faces after double data failure moves US markets June 2, 2014 A MAJOR stateside data firm faced embarrassment yesterday when it was forced to admit a US economic release that moved markets was inaccurate, and had to be corrected twice. The manufacturing PMI for May from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) was originally announced as 53.2, a drop from the previous month. When the mistake was [...]
The Queen’s Speech: What to expect June 2, 2014 WHEN: TOMORROWWHERE: PARLIAMENT THE DETAIL: Two pensions billsThe government has already previewed some of the pensions changes to be expected on Wednesday, but two bills are in the speech. One will cover collective schemes and the other will add flesh to the reforms announced in the Budget, including an advice guarantee for people about to [...]